Jimmy Buffett - Bristow, Virginia August 16, 2014

Jimmy Buffett

And the Coral Reefer Band

Bristow, Virginia

August 16, 2014

     You would think that after all of these years crooning about cheeseburgers and margaritas that Jimmy Buffett would be mailing it in by now.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The man still delivers a high energy, top-notch performance.  His band was particularly sharp on this cool and breezy August night in Northern Virginia.  Jimmy was in fine voice as well.

     He opened the show with a rousing version of Jimmy Cochran's "Summertime Blues" and then immediately hit the high note with crowd favorite, Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl".  This featured the band bouncing up and down in unison during the "La-la-la-la-la-la" parts.  If anyone in the crowd wasn't into it by then, there was something very wrong with them.

     The band segued through an entertaining set of old songs, new songs, country songs and even a virtuoso instrumental by Mac McAnally.  One of the highlights for me was the introduction of Brendan Mayer, son of long time Buffett guitarist Peter Mayer.  Brendan displayed his considerable guitar chops on several songs and was featured on his own composition "Something to Say".  Jimmy migrated to the rythym section to play tambourine on that one!

     My favorite tune was the Stephen Stills composition "Southern Cross".   We saw Jimmy
Buffett in Las Vegas several years ago and this was one of the encores.  Jimmy used it this time to get the crowd into a frenzy for the big finale: "A Pirate Looks at Forty" followed by "Fins" and, of course, "Margaritaville".  This show's encore including "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" with "Let's Get Drunk" mixed in was well received and everyone left very happy.

     This show had a different vibe than the Vegas show we attended in 2011.  The crowds were both energetic, but the Virginia crowd seemed to have more families and younger adults.  Jimmy Buffett has managed to transcend generations and genres and attracts a very diverse crowd.  There was a fairly large contingent of the grey haired set, myself included.  The lady next to me was alternating sips of beer with puffs on an Albuterol inhaler.

     My wife made the comment that a Jimmy Buffett show is not really a concert - it's a giant party where Jimmy Buffett shows up.  You have to admire the man for finding his own unique style and sound, sticking with it, perfecting it and turning it into a franchise.  For a guy known more for party anthems though, his ballads and musicianship are quite remarkable.  His ability to work a crowd is unparalleled.  I enjoyed Jimmy's reminiscences of playing The Cellar Door in Georgetown in his early days, being the first show at this venue and also playing at the White House.  

     My days of driving three hours to and from a show, fighting crowded parking lots and standing (and jumping and dancing) for several hours may be winding down.  This is one performer that I would still go through all of that to see.  It was a lot of fun, which I think, for Jimmy Buffett, is the point!  Thank you, Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, for entertaining us for all of these years and keeping it fun.

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      "I Will Play for Gumbo"

     

     "I Will Play for Gumbo"

     

     "Scarlet Begonias"

     

     

     "Fins"

     

     "Cheeseburger in Paradise"

     
     

     

     "Margaritaville"

     Set List - August 16, 2014

  1. Summertime Blues 
  2. Brown Eyed Girl 
  3. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes 
  4. My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink and I Don't Love Jesus 
  5. Son of a Son of a Sailor 
  6. Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit 
  7. Jolly Mon Sing 
  8. Bama Breeze 
  9. I Will Play for Gumbo 
  10. Come Monday 
  11. Knee Deep 
  12. Volcano 
  13. Little Martha 
      Mac MacAnally solo acoustic
  14. He Went to Paris 
  15. Cheeseburger in Paradise 
  16. Scarlet Begonias 
  17. Something to Say 
      featuring Brendan Mayer on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, song by Brendan Mayer & Roger Guth
  18. One Particular Harbor 
  19. Free / Into the Mystic 
  20. Southern Cross 
  21. A Pirate Looks at Forty 
  22. Fins 
  23. Margaritaville 
  24. Encore:
  24. It's Five O'Clock Somewhere / Why Don't We Get Drunk 
  25. Another Saturday Night 
  26. Lovely Cruise 

John Hiatt and The Combo with The Robert Cray Band

John Hiatt, Richmond, VA
July 23, 2013

John Hiatt and The Combo

The Robert Cray Band

Innsbrook After Dark

Richmond, Virginia

July 23, 2014

The Robert Cray Band

John Hiatt and The Combo

     This was a blistering hot show on a muggy evening in Richmond, Virginia.  It was a night we Southerners call "close".   It was 98 degrees when the gates opened and besides an occasional breeze, it remained warm all night.  Fortunately both acts weathered the heat well and gave outstanding performances.

     The Robert Cray Band was a revelation to me.  I have a couple of the band's CDs, but never have had a full appreciation for what a fantastic guitarist Robert Cray is.  He weaves jazz chord progressions, effects, melody lines and bass runs together and creates blues masterpieces.  He also does this full chord vibrato thing that is something to behold.  He had the crowd with the opening chords of "Phone Booth" and never let go.  His voice is soulful and fine and complements his guitar stylings.  The band is very tight with drummer Les Falconer and bassist Richard Cousins keeping a steady groove and keyboardist Dover Weinberg adding plenty of blues with his piano and organ accompaniment.  The Robert Cray band opened early at about 6:20 PM and played a full hour and twenty minute set.  

                                                      

     John Hiatt is one of my all time favorite singer-songwriters and someone I travel to see frequently.  I love his lyrics, his funky rhythms and his aw-shucks charm.  I have seen him solo, backed by the North Mississippi All-Stars and now with several iterations of "The Combo".  John Hiatt is like your favorite pair of sneakers or sweatshirt - the more you have them and the more "broken in" they get, the more you never want to part with them.   Each John Hiatt show is unique but each show guarantees fabulous entertainment.  This show was near the beginning of this tour supporting a new CD entitled "Terms of My Surrender".  He played three of his new songs including the title track which includes the instant classic Hiatt lyric "Love can go so very wrong, like a fat man in a thong."

     The highlights for me were the opening number "Like Your Dad Did", a rousing "Cry Love" featuring guitarist Doug Lancio on the mandolin and a super funky "Memphis in the Meantime."  The rendition of "Feels Like Rain" was also fantastic, starting with a Hiatt monologue about snuggling and spooning while a summer rain hits a tin roof.  He finished the song whispering the lyrics.  John Hiatt was at his funky best at this show, his voice in fine form and his band hitting on every note.  A noise ordinance limited his encore set to a wonderful full-band rendition of "Have a Little Faith in Me."

    It was a great night, despite the heat, in Richmond.

The Beach Boys, Charlottesville, Virginia

The Beach Boys

nTelos Pavillion

Charlottesville, Virginia

August 28, 2013

     These weren't your father's Beach Boys.  The band that played in Charlottesville on August 28 included founding member and lead vocalist Mike Love and Bruce Johnston (who replaced Glen Campbell in the band in 1965).  The rest of the band has been touring with Mike Love as The Beach Boys for years and upheld the traditions of the original band quite well.

   

Mike Love

                                     

     

 

                                            

                                                                        

     This was not the usual rock band crowd, either.  The fellow in front of me had two hearing aids.  The guy next to me had a cane.  I'm not so young or spry anymore myself.  There were some young people present.  At one point I looked around and a twenty-something-ish couple were standing with puzzled grins.  I could only guess what they were thinking:  “Why are all of these old people jumping around singing ‘Help me, Rhonda.  Help, help me Rhonda”?

                                                                                                      

    The band played for over 2 hours, unleashing medley after medley of immediately recognizable riffs, chord progressions and harmonies.  Everything was pitch-perfect and the audience reaction and participation was enthusiastic.  Everybody, it seemed, knew all of the words to all of the songs.  Play beach music and it's hard to keep a bunch of Baby-Boomers, no matter how infirm, from dancing!

     It’s totally unfair to any band to compare their performance to Paul McCartney, but, since Sir Paul’s concert in Washington, D.C. was the other show we have seen this summer, I can’t help but do this.     This show was Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and a bunch of guys that sounded a lot like The Beach Boys, while the other was Paul McCartney and a bunch of guys that sounded a lot like The Beatles.  Certainly both acts displayed a tremendous level of professionalism and musicianship, but Paul McCartney is in a class by himself.  The difference really was the music.  Both sets included songs 50 years old or older.  McCartney’s, however still sounded relevant, innovative and fresh.  The Beach Boys provided a classic nostalgia-fest and recreated an era with precision and gusto, but it really was just that – a re-creation of and a testament to a more naïve and simpler time of fast cars, pretty girls and good times at the beach.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I had a blast and would go see this group again in a second!

Paul McCartney at Nationals Stadium, Washington, D.C., July 12, 2013

Paul McCartney

"Out There Tour"

Nationals Stadium, Washington, D.C.

July 12, 2013

     I am afraid that Sir Paul McCartney may have ruined rock concerts for me forever.  I think that any show I could ever see would pale in comparison to the virtuoso performance at Nationals Stadium on July 12.  First and foremost, Paul McCartney has created a body of work with no equal.  His music has staying power as evidenced by the huge number of young people at this concert.  His songs energize, entertain and amaze.  And they keep coming.  One after another he pulled out gems which delighted the enormous crowd.  From the set list I have included below, you can see that this was no nostalgia-fest.  He mixed in recent compositions as well as old favorites.

     I was asked yesterday to pick the one highlight of the show which I would experience again if I could.  That was a difficult task.  After a bit of reflection, that one highlight above all other highlights would have to be Paul's tribute to George Harrison.  He played George's "Something", starting out by himself on the ukelele and then joined by his whole band for a truly touching performance.  After the crowd hysteria quieted down a bit, Paul broke the somewhat maudlin tone by quipping "And to think Frank Sinatra said that was his favorite Lennon-McCartney song!"

     Performers take a significant risk performing a set list of such familiar songs.  The crowd knows every lyric, every guitar solo, every harmony, every drum beat (Admit it: you have "air-drummed" Ringo's solo from "Abbey Road").  One slip-up and all 50,000 people in the audience will know it.  Well, Paul McCartney and this amazing band hit every note.  Every harmony was pitch-perfect.  The timing on every song was dead on.  The precision and perfection with which these songs were delivered was truly a wonder.

     Paul McCartney is the consummate entertainer.  From the opening D-E-G, D-E-G jangle of "Eight Days a Week" through the pyrotechnics of "Live and Let Die", the poignant renditions of "Something" and "Yesterday", the raw energy of "Helter Skelter" to the coda of the ending medley from "Abbey Road" the crowd was engaged, energized and entertained.

   Wow!  What a show!

 

SET LIST

1. Eight Days a Week
2. Junior's Farm
3. All My Loving
4. Listen to What the Man Said
5. Let Me Roll It (Foxy Lady)
6. Paperback Writer
7. My Valentine
8. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
9. The Long and Winding Road
10. Maybe I'm Amazed
11. I've Just Seen a Face
12. We Can Work It Out
13. Another Day
14. And I Love Her
15. Blackbird
16. Here Today
17. Your Mother Should Know
18. Lady Madonna
19. All Together Now
20. Lovely Rita
21. Mrs. Vanderbilt
22. Eleanor Rigby
23. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
24. Something
25. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
26. Band on the Run
27. Back in the U.S.S.R.
28. Let It Be
29. Live and Let Die
30. Hey Jude

Encore 1

31. Day Tripper
32. Hi, Hi, Hi
33. Get Back

Encore 2

34. Yesterday
35. Helter Skelter
36. Golden Slumbers
37. Carry That Weight
38. The End

(NOTE: I do apologize for the quality of the photos.  The camera policy on the ticket read "no cameras with detachable lenses" so I brought a point and shoot Canon digital camera with a 20x zoom.  The resolution on these photos leaves a bit to be desired, but I included them anyway to give readers a feel for the visual spectacular that accompanied the musical one)

"Helter Skelter"

Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives, Lynchburg Academy of Fine Arts, February 7,2013

Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives

Lynchburg Academy of Fine Arts

February 7, 2013

     It's always a great treat to attend a show and see professional musicians playing with a high degree of precision and musicianship and seemingly enjoying themselves just as much as their audience.  That's exactly what happened last night at Lynchburg's Academy of Fine Arts when Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives played to a sold-out house of country music fans.  

     The set list included Marty Stuart greatest hits ("The Whiskey Ain't Workin'"), country standards ("I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" was one of the encores). Bluegrass and Gospel ("Workin' on a Building").  The other band members are accomplished musicians and vocalists in their own right.  The Fabulous Superlatives include "Apostle Paul" Martin on bass, "Cousin" Kenny Vaughn on the "Sparkly Silver Telecaster" and "Handsome Harry" Stinson on drums.  All contributed on vocals with Stuart, Stinson and Martin producing some amazing, pitch-perfect three part harmonies.  One of the really cool things about Marty Stuart is that he seems very comfortable with taking a back seat and letting each of his band mates shine.

     This was an inspired show by a true country super-star and his top notch band.  Kudos to the leadership of the The Lynchburg Academy of Fine Arts for bringing this level of entertainment to our town.  The absolute most fantastic part of the show was only having to drive five minutes to get home and not the usual 90 minutes from Charlottesville or Roanoke!

     Go see Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives if you get the chance.  You will have a rocking good time and see a first class show!

Left to Right: Kenny Vaughan, Marty Stuart, Harry Stinson, Paul Martin

                         

Harmony on "I'm Working on a Building"

 

 

Going to town on the mandolin

Tele originally owned by Gram Parsons